WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Legislation that would offer benefits for
same-sex partners of federal employees would cost $310 million
over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The CBO said the legislation
would increase direct spending by $101 million from 2010 to 2015,
and by $310 million by 2020, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"CBO assumes that about
0.33 percent of federal employees would choose to register a
same-sex domestic partnership if given the opportunity,"
the agency said in its May 11 report. "That figure is based
on information previously gathered from state and local governments
as well as more recent research on the experience of organizations
that have adopted similar policies."

Lieberman heads the Senate
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which already
approved the bill. In December he cited Office of Personnel Management
figures indicating the measure would add $63 million annually.

President Barack Obama in June
endorsed the bill when he extended some benefits to the same-sex
partners of federal workers, including coverage by the long-term-care
insurance program for federal employees and allowing employees
to use sick leave to care for their partners.